GALLERY: 14-year-old takes home top prize at freestyle skateboarding finals

Japan took home a lot of hardware at the World Freestyle Roundup Skateboard Championship finals on Sunday May 21.

The finals featured the top 15 amateur and top 15 professional freestyle skateboarders from countries around the world, including many from Japan and South America. There were also skaters from Canada, including White Rock’s own professional skater Andy Anderson, who took fourth in the professional category.

The amateur skateboarding finals took place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Amatuer skaters were judged on their best round out of three, and showed off their talents for judges from around the world. Professional skaters had two round of one and a half minutes each.

In first place for amateurs was Brazillian skater Marcio Torres, followed closely by 11-year-old Ikkei Nagao and eight-year-old Yuzuki Kawasaki.

The professional category was won by 14-year-old Isamu Yamamoto, who took home $3,000. Second-place winner was Youtuber Mike Osterman, who took home $1,500, and the third-place professional skater was German Guenter Morkulys.

Fourth place was taken by White Rock’s Any Anderson. It was a close call, according to officials. Both Morkulys and Anderson had one perfect round, and so the deciding factor between third and fourth place was their second round, which is normally uncounted.

Two other awards were given out at the World Freestyle Roundup Skateboard Championship. These were the Henry Candioti Award for the best freestyle skateboarding style, given to American professional Mike Osterman, and the Abassadors of Freestyle Award, given to long-time skater and Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee Russ Howell.